High-performing financial advisory teams have a strong client-centric philosophy, according to Russell Investments, which offers practice management guidance to advisors.
A client-centric philosophy is reflected in a team's segmentation, service models, workflow processes and team composition.
Sam Ushio, practice management director for Russell Investments' U.S. advisor-sold business, recently set out four steps advisors can take to build a client-centric organization and maximize their team's effectiveness: 
1. Segmentation
The first step is to establish strategic segmentation based on unique client factors. This involves two considerations.
Clients have differing perspectives on value. This, Ushio says, should prompt advisors to segment their client base into groups according to their preferences and provide service models that reflect those preferences.
In order to do this effectively, and given that a majority of profit/revenue tends to come from a handful of clients, the advisor must be aware of both the revenue each client is currently generating and the future opportunity that client represents.
Ushio cites the example of a 40-year-old versus a 60-year-old client. Both may currently generate the same revenue, but in 10 years' time, the revenue projections will likely be very different as one client accumulates assets while the other draws assets down.
2. Service Model
